PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Alghamdi, Mushabab
AU  - Owolabi, Lukman F.
AU  - Adamu, Bappa
AU  - Taura, Magaji G.
AU  - Jibo, Abubakar
AU  - Almansour, Mohammed
AU  - Alaklabi, Saeed N.
AU  - Alghamdi, Mohammed A.
AU  - Imam, Isa A.
AU  - Abdelrazak, Reda
AU  - Rafaat, Ahmad
AU  - Aliyu, Muktar H.
TI  - Disease-specific quality of life in patients with diabetic neuropathy
AID  - 10.15537/smj.2022.43.4.20210861
DP  - 2022 Apr 01
TA  - Saudi Medical Journal
PG  - 408--417
VI  - 43
IP  - 4
4099  - http://smj.org.sa/content/43/4/408.short
4100  - http://smj.org.sa/content/43/4/408.full
SO  - Saudi Med J2022 Apr 01; 43
AB  - Objectives: To compare health-related quality of life (HRQoL) among patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) and diabetic neuropathy (DN) (D+N) with patients with DM without DN (D-DN) and healthy participants. To evaluate factors associated with poor HRQoL in patients with DN.Methods: This study included 306 participants residing in Bisha, Saudi Arabia. Patients with DM were screened for DN using the Michigan Neuropathy Screening Instrument. Neuropathy severity, disability and HRQoL were determined using the Neuropathy Severity Scale (NSS), the Neuropathy Disability Score (NDS), and the Norfolk Quality of Life-Diabetic Neuropathy (QOL-DN) tool, respectively. Nerve conduction studies (NCSs) were also performed.Results: The D+DN group had poorer overall and domain HRQoL scores compared to the D-DN group (p<0.001). There was a strong correlation between overall HRQoL score and both NDS and NSS scores in the D+DN group (ρ= −0.71 and p<0.0001; ρ= −0.81 and p<0.0001, respectively). There was also a significant difference in all mean HRQoL domain scores between D+DN participants with normal and abnormal NCS. Physical inactivity (p=0.043), duration of DM (p<0.0001), abnormal NCS, NSS (p<0.0001), and NDS (p<0.0001) predicted HRQoL in the D+DN group.Conclusion: D+DN participants had a worse HRQoL compared with D-DN and healthy counterparts. NDS, NNS, physical inactivity, abnormal NCS, and duration of DM independently predicted poor HRQoL in D+DN participants.